Earlier this week, local legislators were praising Rep. John Lepper for getting a $1.3 million earmark to rebuild the Spatcher swimming pool in Attleboro.

Yet, just a couple of weeks before, the same lawmakers were blasting others for putting earmarks in the state budget that bloated spending and funded pet projects to the districts of the powerful.

That is the way it goes with earmarks and allegations of pork barrel spending.

What is wasteful to one is a necessity to another.

Putting a $40 million earmark in a life science bond bill for a science center at the tiny Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams on behalf of an influential legislator might seem like an abuse of the system to taxpayers in the Attleboro area. To the people of northern Berkshire County, it is a needed boost to the economy of a long-neglected corner of the state.

To people in Western Massachusetts, spending $2 million of state money on brick sidewalks in downtown Attleboro might seem like an extravagance when firefighters and teachers are being laid off across the state.

To the people of Attleboro, it is a critical shot in the arm for a depressed downtown.

Attleboro is hell bent on getting $3 million in state money to renovate a new branch of Bristol Community College to meet the area's education and job training needs.

Yet, there are state colleges that have buildings that are literally crumbling and their officials contend we should be fixing what we have before we go expanding in Attleboro.

There are some abuses of earmarks that nearly everyone can agree on.

The infamous $398 million "bridge to nowhere" proposed in 2005 for a tiny island in Ketchikan, Alaska, by Sen. Ted Stevens was the classic that critics still like to cite as the achetype of wasteful spending.

And it is rare to have legislators like Sen. John McCain and Rep. Jeff Flake, who refuse to seek any earmarks for their constituents out of concern for abuse of the system.

But, mostly there are just areas of gray.

One man's economic development initative is another man's feeding frenzy at taxpayers' expense. Fuel aid

When New England governors this week called on the federal government to increase aid for home heating assistance in the wake of heating oil approaching $5 a gallon, the call got a receptive hearing from Massachusetts members of Congress.

U.S. Rep. James McGovern, D-Worcester, said he "absolutely" supports more aid, but he goes even further.

He said he was sending a letter to President Bush asking him to release oil from the strategic reserves to try to bring down the price.

Earlier this year, Congress was successful in lobbying Bush to stop making purchases for the reserve, but actually releasing oil for public consumption is a more serious step that Bush is resisting.

Winter is still months away and already social service agencies are predicting a crisis with home heating oil prices.